ENGLISH
REFERENCE

white trash

idiom
Meaning

A poorly educated white person or, collectively, white people of low social status and often regarded as lazy, irresponsible, unintelligent, etc.


Origin

first recorded 19th c. disputed origin

A shortening, first attested in 1850, of poor white trash, which black slaves in the Southern United States were said to call white individuals who worked in servile positions (for example, as butlers).

Examples
SIMPLE

He grew up in a trailer park and people called him white trash.

CONTEXTUAL

The movie portrayed the family as white trash, which many critics found offensive and unfair.

COMPLEX

Despite having escaped poverty and earned a degree, she still bristled when she heard old classmates whisper that she would always be white trash.

Anchors to
Related idioms8entries
  1. 01

    oil trash

    An uncultured, rowdy roughneck employed in the petroleum industry, especially a "white trash" person if used negatively.

  2. 02

    take out the trash

    To forcefully remove undesirable people from a place.

  3. 03

    talk trash

    To untruthfully speak of another in a belittling, deprecative, slighting manner, either in person or in absentia.

  4. 04

    trailer park trash

    Alternative form of trailer trash.

  5. 05

    trailer trash

    A poorly-educated, and usually white individual(s) of low social status who stereotypically reside(s) in a trailer park.

  6. 06

    wash a blackamoor white

    To labour in vain, especially so as to present something as better than it really is; to whitewash.

  7. 07

    white bread

    Bread made from white flour.

  8. 08

    white coat hypertension

    Elevated blood pressure measured by a medical practitioner and deemed to result from the patient's emotional response to the medical environment.

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